HUBER HEIGHTS — The Southwestern Buckeye League West Division Girls Tennis tournament played out almost as Eaton coach John Hitchcock expected – with one exception.
Eaton easily won titles at first and second singles with Macy and Mallory Hitchcock taking those honors.
“The tournament played out as we suspected for the most part. Macy and Mallory took care of business with quick efficient play to win at first and second singles,” coach Hitchcock said.
As team, Eaton finished second overall for the season behind league champion Valley View.
Macy Hitchcock becomes the programs first four-time league champion at first singles.
But it was the first doubles team of Caroline Klawon (10) and Rylie Daniels (9) who pulled off the surprise of the tournament by upsetting the top two seeds to give Eaton three champions on the day.
The tournament was held Tuesday, Sept. 27 at Thomas Cloud Park.
“The highlight of the tournament was the success of our 1st doubles team of Rylie Daniels (9) and Caroline Klawon (10) who entered as the fourth seed and ended up as champions,” coach Hitchcock said.
The due took out Carlisle in the first round 6-3, 6-0.
In the semifinals the duo bounced top-seeded Valley View in straight sets 7-5, 6-2.
“The exciting match was with Valley View as the team found themselves down 0-5 in the first set and in unprecedented fashion wound up winning the next seven games to take the first set,” coach Hitchcock said. “I was totally not expecting that result. At 0-5, I basically told them this set was a wash but let’s just see if we can get a couple of games to try and gain some momentum in hopes of battling for the second set. I think that totally loosened them up and they were able to play more freely without the initial pressure they were putting on themselves.
“On top of that, Valley View was playing extremely well to begin the set hitting some incredible shots and we didn’t think they would be able to sustain that for the entire match. As we started compiling games you could feel the momentum really swing our way and Valley View started to really tighten up. And even though Valley View won the first game of the second set you could see that they were still in a bit of shock by losing that lead and they just never fully recovered.”
In the finals they had to battle not having a letdown.
“In the finals they had to play just as hard as the Madison duo brought a very aggressive net game and great returns,” coach Hitchcock said. “This was still very competitive and I’m most proud of them for continuing to bring their best game. It would’ve been easy for them to have a letdown match after the Valley View upset but they both realized that the same intensity and fight was going to be needed for the finals. What a great tournament for them especially since we just paired them together in the middle of the season.”
Any chance Eaton had to overtake Valley View in the league standings was done in by a limited Eagles roster.
“Unfortunately, we only have seven girls this season and one was out of town so we had to forfeit the third singles position which meant we were prohibited from even getting the fifth place points,” coach Hitchcock said.
The second doubles of Josie Jackson (10) and Lydia Hoffman (9) had a good day as well as they ended up placing fourth when they were seeded fifth.
“They had a very close match with Carlisle in the first round but came up shy. Then had to come through in three sets against Madison which was a very scrappy team,” coach Hitchcock said. “And then in a Deja vu moment they had to face off against Carlisle again in the third-place match. With the sun setting and time being of the essence they were only able to play a pro-set that they lost 7-9. Despite the 1-2 record for the day, they played fairly well. This is a new pairing as well and had not had a lot of experience with one another.”
Eaton was scheduled to begin sectional play on Monday, Oct. 3 with the first two rounds. Semifinals and finals are scheduled to be played Wednesday, Oct. 5 at Centerville High School.
The top four in singles and doubles advance to next week’s district tournament.
